For users and first responders

Re “Activists fight for safe drug injection facilities,” Sept. 19

It is well past time for polite society to admit that safe injection sites, where people can use certain drugs in a clean and supervised environment, are not permissive. Rather, they are lifesaving.

It is also time to weigh the realities of what it takes to bring back an overdosed person, including the strain on emergency responders. The numbers have been crunched in parts of Canada, and they are shocking. Consider also the emotional toll that repeated overdose calls take on emergency responders.